Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2014

Sep 1 2014

(1) Lana Del Rey, Ultraviolence (Polydor/Interscope). The best that could happen to this whirlpool of an album—freezing up only with its last number, “The Other Woman,” a ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July 2014

Greil Marcus

Jul 1 2014

(1) Kim Gordon with Nirvana, “Aneurysm,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Barclays Center, Brooklyn (April 10). That Nirvana used its time onstage to have only ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2014

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2014

(1–4) Gina Arnold, Exile in Guyville (Bloomsbury/33 1/3); Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville (Matador, 1993); Pussy Galore, Exile on Main Street (Shove, 1986); Rolling Stones, ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2014

Greil Marcus

May 1 2014

(1) Tacocat, NVM (Hardly Art). Like Seattle’s Fastbacks and Portland’s All-Girl Summer Fun Band, this group from Longview, Washington—singer Emily Nokes, bassist Bree McKenna, ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2014

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2014

(1/2) The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol. 1 (1917–1932) (Third Man Records and Revenant Records) and the Bladensburg High School Video Jukebox ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Febraury 2014

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2014

(1) Lana Del Rey, “Young and Beautiful,” in The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann (Warner Bros.). I’ve seen this deeply empathetic translation of the novel—where you ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2014

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2014

(1) Pearl Jam and Sleater-Kinney, “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Tampa, Florida, 2003 (YouTube). This is no all-star jam. This is rock ’n’ roll celebrating the human spirit, a ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2013

Greil Marcus

Nov 1 2013

(1/2) Radio Silence: Literature and Rock and Roll, issues 1 and 2. Edited by Dan Stone. Published in the form of a literary quarterly, but with a design that promises both ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2013

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2013

(1/2) Stephen Burt, Belmont: Poems (Graywolf Press) and Breaking Circus, “Driving the Dynamite Truck” (Homestead, 1986). “Yes, another / poem about flowers and kids,” Burt ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2013

Greil Marcus

Sep 1 2013

(1) Counting Crows, Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) (Collective Sounds/Tyrannosaurus). After five top-ten albums on a tony major, the last in 2008, ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2013

Greil Marcus

Jul 1 2013

(1) Eleanor Friedberger, “I Am the Past,” from Personal Record (Merge Records). The song doesn’t just get under your skin, it seems to emerge from under your skin, a memory ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2013

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2013

(1) Blind Lemon Jefferson in Lore, directed by Cate Shortland, written by Shortland and Robin Mukherjee (2012, Music Box Films). Germany, 1945, immediately after the ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2013

Greil Marcus

May 1 2013

(1) Django Unchained—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Republic). Quentin Tarantino’s sound-track albums are as rich as his movies—with the two Kill Bill discs, more so. ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2013

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2013

SPECIAL POST-ELECTION WHAT IS AMERICA EDITION (1) Amy Winehouse, “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” from At the BBC (Republic). A DVD traces her 2006 appearance at the Other ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2013

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2013

(1) Percival Everett, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell (Graywolf Press). “Two black men walk into a bar and the rosy-faced white barkeep says we don’t serve niggers in here ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Janurary 2013

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2013

(1) Favorite election film: “You Don’t Own Me” PSA (YouTube). “I’m Lesley Gore,” says the sixty-six-year-old onetime pop star, “and I approve this message.” It’s powerful to ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – November/December 2012

Greil Marcus

Nov 1 2012

(1) Robert Pattinson in Cosmopolis, written and directed by David Cronenberg (Alfama Films/ Prospero Pictures). This slight figure, in ill-fitting clothes, no matter how ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2012

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2012

(1) Woods, Bend Beyond (Woodsist). It’s hard to believe that this small Brooklyn band is on its seventh album: everything they do seems experimental, half-finished. You hear ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2012

Greil Marcus

Sep 1 2012

(1) Corin Tucker Band, Kill My Blues (Kill Rock Stars). Starting at nineteen with Heavens to Betsy in Olympia, Washington, moving on with Sleater-Kinney in Portland, Oregon, ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2012

Greil Marcus

Jul 1 2012

(1) Laura Oldfield Ford, Savage Messiah (Verso). From 2006 through 2009, Ford produced the issues of the fanzine collected here: hundreds of pages of text, maps, bland ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2012

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2012

(1) “Robert Johnson at 100,” Apollo Theater, New York (March 6). Charles Taylor reports from the scene: “The trick to feeling comfortable in Sunday clothes is to make sure ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2012

Greil Marcus

May 1 2012

(1) Alison Faith Levy, “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” from World of Wonder (Mystery Lawn Music). On an album of children’s songs, this glorious recording—with startling new verses ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2012

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2012

(1) Roots, Undun. Even if you catch only a phrase here and there, the story this shape-shifting album tells is plain. Just through the feel of the music, you know you are ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2012

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2012

(1) Rid of Me, written and directed by James Westby (Phase 4 Films/Submarine Deluxe). In 2002—though it looks earlier: people can still smoke in bars—a woman is kicked out of ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2012

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2012

(1) Yael Bartana, Entartete Kunst lebt! (Degenerate Art Lives!), as part of Germany Is Your America, curated by Michael Bracewell and Anke Kempkes (Broadway 1602, September ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2011

Greil Marcus

Nov 1 2011

(1) David Lynch, Crazy Clown Time (Sunday Best). Lynch has written songs before, most memorably for Julee Cruise. He’s recorded, notably with John Neff for the 2003 Blue Bob. ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2011

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2011

(1/2) Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (Republic, 2007) andMyrmidons of MelodramaAgain and again after Winehouse died, on July 23, you could read her talking about how she’d ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2011

Greil Marcus

Jul 1 2011

(1) Robert Johnson, The Centennial Collection (Columbia Legacy). Johnson’s 1936 and 1937 recordings—to quote the late Wilfrid Mellers in his unsurpassed study Music in a New ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2011

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2011

(1) Gareth Liddiard, Strange Tourist (ATP). The film critic Mick LaSalle, in the San Francisco Chronicle, recently answered a reader’s query as to why the superb film Never ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2011

Greil Marcus

May 1 2011

(1) PJ Harvey, Let England Shake (Vagrant/Island/Def Jam). It’s shocking to realize that her first album appeared nineteen years ago. While from one record to the next radical ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2011

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2011

(1) Eminem and Lil Wayne, “No Love” on Saturday Night Live (December 18, 2010). In a performance that reduced the original collaboration for Eminem’s Recovery to a stiff ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2011

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2011

(1) Jeffrey Foucault, Cold Satellite (JeffreyFoucault.com). A collaboration with the poet Lisa Olstein, who wrote the words for Foucault’s drawl—a drawl that sometimes grows a ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2011

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2011

(1) Scott Shepherd in Gatz, directed by John Collins, produced by Elevator Repair Service (Public Theater, New York, October 29, 2010). At the very end of this partly ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – November/December 2010

Greil Marcus

Nov 1 2010

(1) Bryan Ferry, Olympia (Astralwerks). Want to hear a whole album of “Slave to Love”—or a whole album about hanging around in bars, pretending you’re younger than you are, an ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2010

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2010

(1) Corin Tucker Band, 1,000 Years (Kill Rock Stars). There are strings on the first music to be heard from Tucker since Sleater-Kinney left itself behind in 2006; on “Riley,” ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2010

Greil Marcus

Sep 1 2010

(1) Laurie Anderson: Homeland (Nonesuch). “Only an Expert” is not anything anyone could have expected from Laurie Anderson: a pop song. It moves quickly on a stuttering but ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July 2010

Greil Marcus

Jul 1 2010

As a compiler, Allen Lowe is the music historian’s equivalent of David Thomson with his ongoing editions of A Biographical Dictionary of Film (the latest will be out this ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2010

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2010

(1) Club 8: The People’s Record (Labrador). You know that Dire Straits song “Twisting by the Pool”? If a whole album of twisting-by-the-pool music by a demi-Abba—Karolina ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2010

Greil Marcus

May 1 2010

(1) Ellyn Maybe: Rodeo for the Sheepish (Hen House Studios). I heard half of the long, quietly mesmerizing “City Streets” on the radio—what was this? A woman with a poem, with ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2010

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2010

(1) Yellow Fever, Yellow Fever (Wild World). From Austin, Jennifer Moore and Isabel Martin play guitar, bass, and sing; Adam Jones plays drums and bass; and the early ’60s ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2010

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2010

(1) Kelly Clarkson, “Already Gone” (from All I Ever Wanted, Sony BMG). Sometimes you want singers to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Especially when they sound like Sarah ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2010

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2010

(1) Gossip, Music for Men (Columbia). After years living off the novelty that singer Beth Ditto is bigger than female singers are supposed to be, this trio has produced an ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2009

Greil Marcus

Nov 1 2009

(1) Mike Seeger, 1933–2009. August was a wipeout in American music: the rockabilly original Billy Lee Riley, dead at seventy-five on the second; the punk flash Willy DeVille ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2009

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2009

(1) Worst News of the Month: crime leaders kray twins schemed to take over as the beatles’ managers (Entertainment Daily, June 21). The scheme the Krays supposedly hatched was ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2009

Greil Marcus

Sep 1 2009

(1) Fiery Furnaces, I’m Going Away (Thrill Jockey). Musicality in speech is a common theme; the peculiar delight in the Fiery Furnaces’ eighth album in their six years is the ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2009

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2009

SPECIAL FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT EDITION (1) Miguel João (Chiado Square, Lisbon, April 6). A street singer with an early Springsteen look and an unusual style. Most people ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2009

Greil Marcus

May 1 2009

(1) Caroline Weeks, Songs for Edna (Manimal Vinyl). An “English Rose” (so described in a press release) setting Edna St. Vincent Millay to music? On the sleeve a leafy, ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2009

Greil Marcus

Mar 1 2009

(1) Cat Power, Dark End of the Street (Matador). Six numbers left over from Jukebox, her deadly covers collection from 2008, but with every song here—most deeply with her ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2009

Greil Marcus

Feb 1 2009

(1) Frank Fairfield, “Darling Corey” / “I’ve Always Been a Rambler” (Tompkins Square 7" / myspace.com/frankfairfield). A young Californian who sings and plays as someone who’s ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2009

Greil Marcus

Jan 1 2009

(1) Fiery Furnaces, Remember (Thrill Jockey). Present-day New Yorkers by way of Oak Park, Illinois, Eleanor Friedberger, who does almost all of the singing, and brother ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2008

Greil Marcus

Dec 1 2008

(1) The Gits, directed by Kerri O’Kane (Liberation Entertainment). They were Mia Zapata, vocals; Matt Dresdner, bass; Andrew Kessler, a.k.a. Joe Spleen, guitar; and Steve ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2008

Greil Marcus

Oct 1 2008

(1) I’m Not Jim, You Are All My People (Bloodshot). A songwriting collaboration between the novelist Jonathan Lethem and Walter Salas-Humara, singer-guitarist for the ...

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2008

Greil Marcus

Sep 1 2008

(1) Prime Suspect 7—The Final Act, directed by Philip Martin, written by Frank Deasy (Acorn Media, 2006). You suspect the father of a missing schoolgirl until he puts his head ...

A Conversation with Don DeLillo

Greil Marcus

Jun 1 2006

Greil Marcus is the author of The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes. His The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, will be ...

Contributor

Greil Marcus

All Bylines

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Febraury 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2014

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Janurary 2013

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – November/December 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2012

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – Nov/Dec 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July/August 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – March/April 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – February 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – January 2011

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – November/December 2010

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – October 2010

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – September 2010

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – July 2010

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – June 2010

Greil Marcus

Real Life Rock Top Ten – May 2010